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(IPYS/IFEX) - On 26 March 2009, Ángel Perozo, secretary general of the National Journalists' Association (Colegio Nacional de Periodistas, CNP), reported having received a phone call from an unidentified person threatening to send three people to attack him if he did not stop requesting that the government speed up the investigations of attacks against journalists of the State of Carabobo, in north central Venezuela.

Perozo stated that his request refers to the attack against Televen correspondent Ruth Lara Castillo, by the Minister for Public Works and Housing, Diosdado Cabello; and the assaults against 13 journalists who were beaten up by government supporters in the State of Carabobo's Legislative Council in December 2008. This investigation is at a standstill in the Public Prosecutor's Office.

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Along with eroding civil and political freedoms, President Nicolas Maduro’s declaration of a State of Exception and Economic Emergency, extended in May 2017, dictated “strict regulations” to prevent “destabilization campaigns” on the internet

Venezuela’s economic crisis continued to affect the media industry, leaving dozens of publications in chronic danger of closure due to the difficulty of meeting basic operational costs. Many outlets also faced robberies, vandalism, and hackings.

The government refused to recognize a decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ordering the reinstatement of the terrestrial broadcast license of television station Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which was taken off the air in 2007 after a highly politicized campaign against the channel by then president Hugo Chávez.

This report documents 45 cases from Caracas and three states, involving more than 150 victims, in which security forces have abused the rights of protesters and other people in the vicinity of demonstrations.

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Satirical cartoons of political leaders are widely understood as a crucial form of social commentary around the world. In Turkey, however, they're yet another way the government criminalizes social criticism.

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